As I continue writing these, I realize how much I missed them last year.

First of all, I’d like to mention that I didn’t have to have my wisdom tooth removed. I thought it had gone bad because I saw something on it. Turns out I didn’t see well, since it’s in the back of my mouth. So I had to go to the dentist just because my vision had failed me. Still got a nice cleaning done so it’s a win win.

You see, you can’t rely just on your vision in life. That’s why you have other senses too, which you use every day. Then why not use them in your games as well? When it comes to the five senses in RPGs, I mostly see sight and hearing to get any use. But what about the others?

“You carefully turn the cold door handle and slowly open the door to the guard room. A fire is crackling in the fireplace and the table has been set. Food lies on the plates, still hot, and the aromas of spices on grilled fish have filled the room. A bottle of wine stands open, its cork still wet next to it.”

It wasn’t that hard. The only sense I didn’t use was taste because that would require action from a player. The point here is that you can make your world much richer by doing this. It adds an extra dimension in a very easy way and subconsciously gets your players’ mind to travel deeper into your world.

And you can even incorporate these senses to be used by your player. If a character knows about wine, they can smell or taste the wine from the open bottle and maybe guess how much time it’s been open on the table which could give them an idea of when the guards left the room.

As another example, the characters could identify possible residents of a dungeon by how it smelled. Or discover a secret room by the smell of a rotting corpse. This can turn into a fun game with your players.

And I think I’m done with this day’s prompt. I’d love to hear how you incorporate the senses into your games, so feel free to comment down below. Tomorrow’s word is “tribute”. I wonder what tiny thing from my day tomorrow I’ll try to use as an intro for this one.

P.S: I will be alternating between the two logos for this year’s RPGaDay because they are too good not to use.

If you like what I do here on the blog and want more, in the form of early access to the articles, sneak peeks, and exclusive content, you can consider supporting me on Patreon.

If you want to stay updated on everything we release (from the blog, YouTube channel, Podcast, etc), as well as get new content and discounts, you should subscribe to our mailing list.